Government mulls stock for cash strategy

The Government is preparing to sell some of the shares it owns in the crown jewels - the energy sector companies held by the Economy Ministry, such as OMV Petrom, Transelectrica, Transgaz and Romgaz on the Stock Exchange, for which it estimates to collect more than one billion euros.

The information was published by Mediafax news agency exclusively yesterday afternoon, citing an official document of the Government.

The money should go into a special fund of the Economy Ministry, run by Adriean Videanu, who is currently managing the most important portfolio in the country. The Fund, which will manage the state's industry and energy assets will participate in the funding of investment projects and sell the shares held in the companies in the state's portfolio.

The state is thus trying at the last minute to use the Stock Exchange to get cash, after having borrowed 18 billion euros from the IMF and other international financial institutions and several other billion euros from the financial markets via government bond issues. Brokers and Bucharest Stock Exchange representatives have been asking the state to float companies for years, but so far more has been said than done.